What Would Be the Logic of a Second Mask Mandate?
Regardless of Vaccine Efficacy Questions it Makes No Sense.
You can see it coming. If and when the Biden run CDC returns to recommending masks half the country will be mandating them again. Can we just pump the breaks for a second and ask why? What could possibly be the logic behind a second mask mandate?
I stand firmly behind my opinion, backed by data and evidence, that masks don't work, but let's put that aside for now. Even if one believes masks work, does anyone actually believe that masks are better at preventing infection than a vaccine? Have the vaccines stopped working? I see three potential scenarios:
If the vaccines are working fine, both at personal protection and at preventing spread, then a mask mandate is superfluous! Vaccines are readily available to everyone, and we should not mandate a policy just to cater to those who chose to remain unvaccinated.
It's possible, based on emerging evidence, that the vaccines are less effective at preventing spread than we once thought. They may still provide great personal protection against disease and illness, but they would lack broader public benefit since the virus still has a chance to replicate and spread to others. If this is the case a mask mandate still makes no sense. What would we be slowing the spread for? The hospitals won't be overflowing because all of the vulnerable are vaccinated (also they never overflowed even before the vaccines), and if even the vaccinated can still spread it then we are all going to get it eventually.
Under this scenario it once again it becomes your personal obligation to get the vaccines to prevent serious illness or be willing to take your chances. Remember Covid-19 is a disease, the presence of Sars-CoV-2 in your body is not the same as having Covid! We don't need to panic just because you have a "case" of Covid if you are vaccinated and have mild symptoms or even if you are unvaccinated but young and healthy enough not to really notice. And this applies doubly for children.
Lastly, there is a possibility that the protective effects of the vaccines are wearing off over time. It's possible that all of the vaccinated may once again become vulnerable, but it should be stated that there is as yet no substantial evidence that this is the case. Even under this worst case scenario what would be the point of a mask mandate? If vaccines are not a long term solution are we planning to mask up until the end of time? If we will all face the full burden of disease, why postpone the inevitable.
This push for more masking is a sign of failure within our government and media to properly set public expectations. They stoked up fear of Covid, locked us down until there was a "cure", and then, as predicted, pushed a fantasy that vaccines would eradicate the disease in months. Now that that hasn't happened and "cases" are going back up their only response is to double down on a failed policy instead of admitting the truth.
The truth is the last 18 months has been an exercise in the "street light effect". We've been looking for keys under the lamppost, not because the keys are there, but because that's where all the light is... We begged the government to "do something", so they did and claimed it was working, even though there were no good solutions and all of it was made up haphazardly on the spot. Just like the drunk can't admit his keys are lost in the park, no one in government could be the adult in the room and admit we weren't in control.
We are living through the logical conclusion of the permission society. We expect our government to be mommy and daddy. We ask them to put warning labels on our coffee cups, padding in our playgrounds, and round off every rough edge in life. Of course we would expect them to provide us with unrealistic protections from disease. We begged for mask mandates and governors grew in popularity when they enacted them. Once given that power governments have been reluctant to release it. They now feel it is their duty to prevent every "case" of Covid, regardless of how impossible that task is.
At this point I don't believe this new masking policy would be catering to the unvaccinated. Instead, I believe we are catering a policy to the fearful.
The only purpose of a mask mandate is to assuage the irrational urge for the government to "do sometime" since it appears that vaccines haven't done enough. The response should be swift and utter rejection!
The vaccinated DON’T NEED a mask mandate. The unvaccinated DON’T WANT a mask mandate. The nanny state-ers can stay in their basements. The rest of us have lives to live!
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